Former Socorro Electric manager files lawsuit
A former accountant/office manager at Socorro Electric Cooperative has filed a lawsuit against the co-op and two co-op officials, alleging discrimination, defamation, retaliation, breach of implied contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
An attorney for Kathy Torres filed the complaint in 7th Judicial District Court on Friday. Named as defendants are the cooperative, Co-op President Paul Bustamante and District 5 Trustee Charlie Wagner. The complaint asks that the court award her damages for loss of income and benefits, back-pay and front-pay, punitive damages and pre- and post-judgment interest. In addition to the complaint, a demand for a six-person jury trial was also filed with the court.
Torres worked for Socorro Electric for 22 years before she and former General Manager Polo Pineda Jr. were fired in August 2010, in wake of an internal investigation into financial irregularities. While a subsequent forensic audit did not find that the co-op suffered a financial loss, it did question some of its accounting practices and policies.
After the co-op’s board of trustees took action to fire the two managers, Bustamante told El Defensor Chieftain that they were let go for allegedly violating a co-op policy having to do with borrowing money from 401K plans.
Torres’ court filing claims that she was never given a reason for why she was placed on unpaid administrative leave 12 days prior to being dismissed. Nor was she given a reason when she was fired, it states.
“Ms. Torres has been damaged as the result of the wrongful discharge, including loss of income and benefits, humiliation, emotional distress and other compensatory damages to be proven at trial,” the complaint states. “The Defendants’ conduct against Ms. Torres was malicious, willful, wanton, and carried out in reckless disregard to her protected rights.”
The court filing also notes that the board of trustees does not directly hire or fire employees, other than the general manager.
The complaint states that Torres was subject to false, derogatory and discriminatory comments allegedly made by Wagner, causing her to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in July of last year. It claims that the discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment continued after she filed the complaint with the EEOC, culminating with her being fired.
The complaint states that Torres was engaged in “protective activity” under the New Mexico Human Rights Act when she filed the charges with the EEOC but was later placed on unpaid leave and fired. It further alleges that Wagner and Bustamante made false statements to the local media and others accusing her of committing fraud and implying that she had engaged in criminal conduct. The statements made against Torres were “intended to expose Ms. Torres to contempt, harm to her reputation, and discourage others from associating or dealing with her,” according to the complaint.
With regard to the breach of implied contract, the complaint states that while a co-op manager Torres followed progressive discipline with employees under her supervision, as directed by management, and that created a reasonable expectation that the co-op would abide by the same procedure with her, but it did not.
“Defendant SEC, based on the implied contracts with Ms. Torres, had a duty of good faith and fair dealing in its performance of those implied promises,” the complaint reads. “Defendant SEC intentionally deprived Ms. Torres of the benefits of her contracts by wrongfully and intentionally placing her on indefinite unpaid administrative leave and terminating her employment on August 25, 2010.”
The complaint also notes that Torres was terminated after member-owners of the co-op passed a bylaw in April 2010 that required Socorro Electric to follow the Open Meetings Act. It claims that the Aug. 25, 2010, meeting at which she was fired was not in compliance with the OMA, so any action taken was invalid.
On June 10 of this year, the complaint states, Torres sent a letter to the co-op demanding that she be reinstated to her previous position and receive back pay and benefits. That demand was not granted.
Torres, who now works in the business office at New Mexico Tech, sued the co-op last year for failing to compensate her in a timely manner after she was terminated.
According to her attorney, J. Edward Hollington of Albuquerque, who is also representing her in the current lawsuit, a settlement was reached in which Torres was paid an additional $10,947.73.
Contact T.S. Last